For me, this an up and down read; I got bogged down in the many global connections of the plot, which seemed an unrealistic tale for a new spy - one who’s not yet a full time agent for the first half of the book. All those Empire nations coming apart at around the same time makes Jack a busy agent. I agree with readers who called out the name-checking of famous 20th century figures. One of these links worked for me, the one from Jack’s time in South Africa, but as they piled up, it seemed a stretch. However, at the very end, the last two chapters, the storyline grabbed me again. Not sure if I’ll read the next in this series, and so many have recommended the author’s previous “Station”series, maybe that’s my next port of call.